A well-developed mystery in which young detectives have fun while saving the day.
A quartet of tweens investigates a theft after the death of a beloved Egyptologist in this middle-grade series starter.
Twins Lexi and Lanny Wyatt and their friends Moki Kalani and Rani Kumar have developed a reputation for solving mysteries in their hometown of Botanic Hill, California. During a visit with one of their neighbors, the recently widowed Mrs. Thornsley, the four find out that her late husband, an Egyptologist colleague of Lanny and Lexi’s parents, was behaving oddly before his death. The young amateur detectives are certain that he had nothing to do with the recent theft of an ancient Egyptian urn from a local research center, of which he’d been accused, so they set out to solve the mystery. Their investigation takes them all over town, to local businesses, zoos, and labs, and they encounter plenty of real, if short-lived, danger along the way. They evade a masked stranger, for example, and meet other suspicious people whose actions make it clear that the kids are indeed investigating a serious crime. The investigators leave the actual law enforcement to the police—with whom they have a special relationship, as Moki’s father is a sergeant—but the kids are the ones who figure out the true circumstances of the urn’s disappearance and save Dr. Thornsley’s reputation. The book ties up various loose ends in its closing pages, but the narrator makes it clear that there will be more adventures in store for the young sleuths. Debut author Joseph has clearly put a great deal of thought into developing the book’s setting, and quirky details, such as the layout of Botanic Hill’s streets—there are 26 east-west streets, all named, in alphabetical order, for plants—give it vibrancy. The four protagonists are distinctly drawn, and Rani’s synesthesia—a condition that Joseph shares with her character, as explained in an author’s note—is presented as noteworthy without defining her. Moki’s Hawaiian heritage is handled less fluidly, however, as his ethnicity is highlighted many times over the course of the text. Secondary characters are also well developed—particularly Bruce Wilding, the twins’ tutor and grudging chauffeur. The dialogue sometimes feels forced; Lanny and Moki excessively call each other “bro,” for instance, and at one point, the villain says, “You kids, you think you’re so smart.” The omniscient narrator also has a taste for melodrama: “She was instantly aware that, to others, her husband might look guilty. But never a doubt entered her mind. She knew her husband could never have had anything to do with this atrocity.” The mystery, however, is solid, with plenty of twists and red herrings that will allow readers to match wits with the Botanic Hill Detective Agency. The Egyptology element is intriguing and informative, with plenty of detail for Egypt enthusiasts (natron and cobra venom each play a role in the mystery). Overall, Joseph has written a fine first volume with plenty of good backstory and clear series potential.
A well-developed mystery in which young detectives have fun while saving the day.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-947392-58-8
Page Count: 205
Publisher: Acorn Publishing, LLC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Simmering with tension, this tragic, albeit imperfect, mystery is sure to keep readers inching off their seats.
A forsaken family bound by grief still struggles to pick up the pieces 12 years after their mother’s death.
When famous author Gil Coleman sees “his dead wife standing on the pavement below” from a bookshop window in a small town on the southern coast of England, he follows her, but to no avail, and takes a near-fatal fall off a walkway on the beach. As soon as they hear word of his accident, Gil’s grown daughters, Nan and Flora, drop everything and return to their seaside family home in Spanish Green. Though her father’s health is dire, Flora, Gil’s youngest, can’t help but be consumed by the thought that her mother, Ingrid—who went missing and presumably drowned (though the body was never found) off the coast more than a decade ago—could be alive, wandering the streets of their town. British author Fuller’s second novel (Our Endless Numbered Days, 2015) is nimbly told from two alternating perspectives: Flora’s, as she re-evaluates the loose ends of her mother’s ambiguous disappearance; and Ingrid’s, through a series of candid letters she writes, but never delivers, to Gil in the month leading up to the day she vanishes. The most compelling parts of this novel unfold in Ingrid’s letters, in which she chronicles the dissolution of her 16-year marriage to Gil, beginning when they first meet in 1976: Gil is her alluring professor, they engage in a furtive love affair, and fall into a hasty union precipitated by an unexpected pregnancy; Gil gains literary fame, and Ingrid is left to tackle motherhood alone (including two miscarriages); and it all bitterly culminates in the discovery of an irrevocable betrayal. Unbeknownst to Gil and his daughters, these letters remain hidden, neglected, in troves of books throughout the house, and the truth lies seductively within reach. Fuller’s tale is eloquent, harrowing, and raw, but it’s often muddled by tired, cloying dialogue. And whereas Ingrid shines as a protagonist at large, the supporting characters are lacking in depth.
Simmering with tension, this tragic, albeit imperfect, mystery is sure to keep readers inching off their seats.Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-941040-51-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Tin House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2016
With lantern-lit tales of old China, a rich humanity, and an acute ear for bicultural tuning, a splendid first novel—one...
An inordinately moving, electric exploration of two warring cultures fused in love, focused on the lives of four Chinese women—who emigrated, in their youth, at various times, to San Francisco—and their very American 30-ish daughters.
Tan probes the tension of love and often angry bewilderment as the older women watch their daughters "as from another shore," and the daughters struggle to free themselves from maddening threads of arcane obligation. More than the gap between generations, more than the dwindling of old ways, the Chinese mothers most fear that their own hopes and truths—the secret gardens of the spirit that they have cultivated in the very worst of times—will not take root. A Chinese mother's responsibility here is to "give [my daughter] my spirit." The Joy Luck Club, begun in 1939 San Francisco, was a re-creation of the Club founded by Suyuan Woo in a beleaguered Chinese city. There, in the stench of starvation and death, four women told their "good stories," tried their luck with mah-jongg, laughed, and "feasted" on scraps. Should we, thought Suyuan, "wait for death or choose our own happiness?" Now, the Chinese women in America tell their stories (but not to their daughters or to one another): in China, an unwilling bride uses her wits, learns that she is "strong. . .like the wind"; another witnesses the suicide of her mother; and there are tales of terror, humiliation and despair. One recognizes fate but survives. But what of the American daughters—in turn grieved, furious, exasperated, amused ("You can't ever tell a Chinese mother to shut up")? The daughters, in their confessional chapters, have attempted childhood rebellions—like the young chess champion; ever on maternal display, who learned that wiles of the chessboard did not apply when opposing Mother, who had warned her: "Strongest wind cannot be seen." Other daughters—in adulthood, in crises, and drifting or upscale life-styles—tilt with mothers, one of whom wonders: "How can she be her own person? When did I give her up?"
With lantern-lit tales of old China, a rich humanity, and an acute ear for bicultural tuning, a splendid first novel—one that matches the vigor and sensitivity of Maxine Hong Kingston (The Warrior Woman, 1976; China Men, 1980) in her tributes to the abundant heritage of Chinese-Americans.Pub Date: March 22, 1989
ISBN: 0143038095
Page Count: -
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1989
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